There’s a difference between, knowing what to make and knowing how to make it. Unfortunately, in the world of cinema, good ideas are laid to waste all too often. Director Keshav Panneriy’s Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai is a perfect example of that fact. They wanted to make a film where a girl muster up the courage to stand up for herself in a man’s world. Not just that, her journey takes her from the limiting environs of rural India to the more globalised setting of the US. While in theory, all of it looks fantastic, the jaded and downright stilted execution makes this well-intentioned movie seem like a major embarrassment.

Even though the idea of a girl proving herself against chauvinism, closeted mindsets and exploitation is cliched, it still retains a certain potential to tell a strongly feministic tale. But Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai chooses to take that concept and set it exotic locations, but apart from that everything about this storytelling effort seems woefully jaded. The screenplay and the editing of this film are frankly substandard. The story depicts Alia’s (Manjari Fadnis) journey growing up, falling in love, being forcibly married to an elitist chauvinist and then eventually finding her stride in the USA. Along the way, the camera captures some beautiful and exotic locations. Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai certainly looks like a slick film. But the use of dialogue and the design of situations is so passé that you just can’t invest any emotion into the movie. The singular idea of a girl proving herself worthy and rightful goes on and on. It doesn’t help that the likes of Ashutosh Rana and Supriya Pathak Kapur get such terribly corny lines. These truly great actors are reduced to caricatures thanks to the abysmal writing.

Manjari Fadnis’ Alia fall’s in love, nurses heart break and then discovers compassion again. But even that seemingly complete character arc doesn’t allow her to rise above the mediocrity of the movie. Arbaaz Khan in a role of the gentleman and the proverbial Knight in shining armour is decent. Though his performances does not make the movie any better. At close to three hours, the film just keeps going on and on. And then you also have to deal with distasteful ideas like men fighting tigers and homosexual people raging on hormones.

Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai turns out to be as uninspiring as it’s unoriginal name. The only reason someone could sit through this movie is for the pretty visuals and the somewhat average performances of the cast. But even that will require insane levels of patience.